America’s public fast-charging community expanded at a document tempo final yr, rising 30% and including greater than 18,000 new ports. That push was largely led by non-public funding, however a small share of that progress additionally got here from the Nationwide Electrical Car Infrastructure (NEVI) program.
The $5 billion program was handed below the Biden administration as a part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation. It was designed to create a federally funded community of high-speed public quick chargers alongside America’s main journey corridors, serving to states lay the groundwork for broader EV adoption within the coming years.
However after a sluggish and controversial begin, the NEVI program lastly seems to be gaining momentum.
Picture by: Plugshare
Almost 100 new NEVI-funded charging stations got here on-line within the U.S. final yr, including near 500 new ports, in accordance with a report launched Wednesday by charging analytics agency Paren. That’s greater than double the variety of stations and roughly thrice the variety of NEVI-funded ports added in 2024.
“NEVI is a sign to the broader market to proceed constructing EV [charging] infrastructure,” Paren CEO Florent Breton informed me in an interview. “It serves as a magnet for overseas gamers, akin to Alpitronic, to come back and be a part of the trade within the U.S.”
Whereas these ports symbolize solely a small fraction of the greater than 18,000 chargers added final yr, their progress is critical given NEVI’s turbulent yr filled with lawsuits and political battles.
This system got here below heavy hearth from the Trump administration final yr. The primary try at killing it got here final February, when the Division of Transportation (DOT) froze NEVI funds and instructed states to not award any new contracts. A coalition of states sued quickly after, and a decide finally dominated in favor of NEVI, ordering the administration to unfreeze the funds.
GMC Hummer EV charging at an EVgo quick charger
Picture by: Common Motors
Then, this January, the administration tried as soon as once more to freeze NEVI funds. However final week, a federal decide in Seattle dominated in favor of the 20 states that sued to revive the funds. EV advocates have argued that the case for NEVI was all the time simple. It was a bipartisan act of Congress, and the arbitrary revocation of funds with out due course of was illegal.
What’s additionally value noting is that the DOT launched up to date steerage final October that lowered a few of NEVI’s stricter necessities in an effort to hurry up the deployment of chargers.
Now, states are shifting into larger gear in relation to commissioning and constructing these websites. In keeping with EVstates.org, which tracks the progress of the NEVI program, some 42 states have approval plans for 2026 and $632 million has gone out to charging corporations to construct chargers to date.
It’s unclear whether or not extra lawsuits are looming this yr. But when this system enters a steadier part, it might scale a lot sooner than it has to date.
Contact the writer: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com
